Cheetahs’ second-half surge sinks Western Province

LONDON, United Kingdom, Apr 15 – An excellent second-half comeback from the Cheetahs saw them prevail 28-21 winners over Western Province in Currie Cup action in Cape Town on Friday.

Tries from Alulutho Tshakweni, Louis van der Westhizen (2) and David Brits proved too much for Western Province, who got on the try column through Tristan Leyds and Angelo Davids.

The Cheetahs’ discipline was a problem in the opening quarter of an hour as they gave away four successive penalties. However, they escaped sanction and opened the scoring in the 15th minute.

They had a scrum at the WP try line, took it out the back and sent it to the sticks where the forwards are waiting to body the defence before Tshakweni was shoved over for the try.

WP hit back with two penalties to bring it back to 6-7 before the Cheetahs’ infringements came back to haunt them in the 24th minute when try-scorer Tshakweni was sent to the sin-bin.

Jerome Paarwater’s side failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and it took until only after Tshakweni returned and in the 37th minute for the hosts to score their first try. WP had it around the Cheetahs 10 and they handed it to Leyds who sold a dummy of note before bursting through the ranks to go all the way with Tim Swiel adding the extras.

Paarwater’s men made a dream start to the second half. They had it out wide and moved it up the 22 and Leyds gave an amazing cross kick for Sergeal Petersen who offloaded to Selwyn Davids, who went over to score the try and put WP further ahead at 21-7 after Swiel this time missed the conversion.

The Cheetahs hit back in the 52nd minute to level the scores at 21-21. They found themselves inside the WP 5 and tried to pick and drive repeatedly. It was sent back and Brits picked it up while running at pace then squeezed through a gap to bring the Cheetahs back into it as Pienaar added the two.

The Free Staters were applying plenty of pressure on the hosts and that pressure tolled in the 72nd minute. They won a penalty after the scrum and kicked into touch at the 5. They went for another driving maul and Van der Westhuizen went over at the back with Pienaar slotting an easy conversion.

Hawies Fourie’s side were able to hold on for the final eight or so minutes to pile more misery on a struggling WP Currie Cup side.

The scorers:

Western Province – Tries: Tshakweni, Van der Westhuizen (2), Brits. Cons: Pienaar (4). Yellow Card: Tshakweni.

Cheetahs – Tries: Leyds, Davids. Con: Swiel. Pens: Swiel.

Teams

Western Province: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Timothy Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Nama Xaba (captain), 5 Connor Evans, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Alistair Vermaak.

Replacements: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Kade Wolhuter, 23 Mnombo Zwelendaba.

Cheetahs: 15 Cohen Jasper, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Ruan Pienaar (captain), 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Andisa Ntsila, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Aidon Davis, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.

Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 /Marné Coetzee, 19 Ockie Barnard, 20 Mihlali Mosi, 21 Rewan Kruger, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Robert Ebersohn.

Referee: AJ Jacobs

Assistant referees: Dylen November, Local

TMO: Egon Seconds